Finished 3rd floor attic

[Brian Akers]

Aside from electrical, what are some issues to consider for a finished attic workshop? The stairs end with open/loft like opening so not awful getting boards up there. This would obviously be more hobby type stuff. Nothing too big that I couldn't get it of there, or assembly downstairs.
Are there structural issue there? Should I add an extra layer of subfloor?
Current equipment list (not all purchased yet):
6" Rockwell jointer 37-220
Grizzly p0771
Rigid or Dewalt planer
Work table
Delta 28-560 bandsaw (it was free...)
Shop vac + Rockler Dust separater for dust collection.

This is pretty much the best area for me to do it space wise, around 1k sqft.

Comments, suggestions and concerns are truly welcome!
Thanks!

[Jamie Buxton]

Noise. But if people are rarely on the second floor while you're working, this probably isn't too bad.

Dust. A weatherstripped door will help.

[Brian Akers]

I already work from home so I would do stuff during the day. Good idea about weather stripping. Although there isn't a door so I thought about hanging a heavy curtain or something.

[Jamie Buxton]

I already work from home so I would do stuff during the day. Good idea about weather stripping. Although there isn't a door so I thought about hanging a heavy curtain or something.

I wouldn't expect a curtain to help much with airborne dust. I don't know how much you'll be using this shop, but if you use it a lot, you may find that you'll want to install a door.

[Jim Andrew]

An exterior prehung steel door has a tight seal at the bottom and good weatherstrip around the other 3 edges.

[Brian Tymchak]

I would try to make sure the floor is structured to hold the weight you're going to put up there. It probably is if there is a stairway to the floor, but I would double-check. Maybe rent a structural engineer for an hour?

Other than that, my concern would be about ventilation and heating/cooling. A lot of houses were built with undersized AC/blowers to cut costs during construction. (I've bought 2 of them now and have replaced AC/Furnace/blowers in both to get adequate air conditioning to the far bedrooms.)

[Mike Heidrick]

HVAC - heat and humidity.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Most definitely have an engineer take a look.

At the very least, measure the spans and figure out the size of the joists (or bottom chords, depending on the construction), and do a little research on dead loads, spans, and necessary joist sizing.

If your trusses are made of 2x4's, and/or there are a lot of big spans below the attic (not a lot of walls running perpendicular to the trusses), then most likely the attic was only designed for storage and not for foot traffic or machinery. The stairs are probably there just for getting stuff in and out.

Btw, if your joists/rafters/bottom chords are not sized for your shop, the solution is most definitely NOT to simply add more subfloor material. That just adds to the dead load of the floor.

Worth a few bucks to have an engineer take a look for sure.

[Brian Akers]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It is very much appreciated! I'll get someone in to evaluate the structural capacity.